William II of the Netherlands

William II of the Netherlands (6 December 1792-17 March 1849) was King of the Netherlands from 7 October 1840 to 17 March 1849, succeeding Willem I of the Netherlands and preceding Willem III of the Netherlands. He was a general of the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic Wars, leading a corps at the Battle of Quatre Bras and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Early life
Willem was born on 6 December 1792 in The Hague, United Provinces, the son of Willem I of the Netherlands and Wilhelmine of Prussia. His family fled to England when he was just two years old, as the French invaded the Netherlands in 1795 and established the Batavian Republic in the place of the United Provinces. Willem was known for being a bisexual, as he surrounded him with male servants for more than utility reasons.

Military career


In 1811, he became aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War, accompanying him on his campaigns in Spain and Portugal. In 1814, he was promoted to Lieutenant-General in the British Army, and he briefly served as commander of the Coalition forces in Belgium before the Hundred Days campaign of 1815 broke out, upon which he ceded command to Wellington. Willem commanded a corps at the Battle of Quatre Bras and the Battle of Waterloo, and he was granted the Soestdijk Palace by the Dutch people as recognition for "his" victories. Willem was the heir to the throne fo the Netherlands as Prince of Orange, and he married Anna Pavlovna of Russia in 1816. In 1830, he attempted to negotiage peace between the Netherlands and the rebellious people of Belgium, and he led the failed Ten Days' Campaign against the Belgians in 1831, eventually being repulsed due to France's intervention on the Belgian side.

King of the Netherlands
On 7 October 1840, Willem succeeded his father upon his abdication and, despite sharing his father's conservative views, he did not take much of a role in the governance of the Netherlands. After 1848, he adopted liberalism as his new views, establishing a parliamentary democracy in response to the unrest that the Spring of Nations had caused. His new constitution was passed just a few months before his death in March 1849.